Legal Aid Commission (ACT)
Statement of Intent
2015-16
Legal Aid Commission (ACT)
TheLegal Aid Commission (ACT)(the Commission) is a Territory Authority established under the LegalAidAct1977.
This Statement of Intentfor 2015-16has been prepared in accordance with Section 61 of the Financial Management Act 1996.
The responsible Minister, Mr Simon Corbell MLA,was consulted during the preparation of the Statement of Intent.
The Statement of Intent, which focuses on the 2015-16 Budget year, has been developed in the context of a four year forward planning horizon to be incorporated, as far as practicable, into the Commission’sstrategic and business planning processes.
The Commission’s2015-16 Statement of Intent has been agreed between:
John Boersig
Chief Executive Officer
Legal Aid Commission (ACT)
Andrew Barr MLA
Treasurer
Simon Corbell MLA
Attorney-General
Contents
Purpose
Nature and scope of activities
Performance measures and targets
Key Performance Indicators for 2015-16 to 2018-19
Assessment of performance against 2014-15 objectives
Employment profile
Monitoring and reporting
Financial Arrangements
1LEGAL AID COMMISSION (ACT) STATEMENT OF INTENT
/2015-16
Purpose
The Legal Aid Commission (ACT) (the Commission) is established by the LegalAidAct1977 (the Act). The primary purpose of the Commission isto provide vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians with access to justice through a range of legal aid services.
The Commission’s priorities for 2015-16 are:
- Support for victims of family and domestic violence through the provision of legal assistance services.
- Develop and implement legal education programs tailored to the needs of people experiencing a high incidence of adverse legal events, and those working in community organisations that assist them.
- Promote the prevention of legal problems by providing timely information about the law and legal processes and referring people to other legal or non-legal services where necessary to meet their needs.
- Promote the early resolution of legal problems through providing legal advice, advocacy, minor legal assistance and dispute resolution services.
- Improve the provision of legal assistance services to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and other culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
- Advise and assist people appearing unrepresented before courts and tribunals,particularly those persons experiencing family violence.
- Provide legal representation to people in need to enable them to assert or defend their legal rights.
Nature and scope of activities
The Commission aims to improve access to the justice system by providing a range of legal services to the community through in-house legal and paralegal staff and lawyers in private practice.
The services provided by the Commission are wide-ranging and encompass the provision of information and referral, legal advice and minor legal assistance, advocacy, duty lawyer services, grants of legal assistance, dispute resolution services, community legal education programs and submissions on law reform issues.
Each service type is described below.
Information and Referral
Information about the law and the legal system is provided by the Commission to individuals and community groups. It is information of general application about legal rights and responsibilities, court and tribunal processes, alternative ways of resolving disputes, the availability of financial assistance and other legal assistance services. It includes referral to other community services appropriate to people’s needs.
Information and referral is provided through the Legal Aid Helpdesk and by other Commission staff in person at the Commission’s office and at courts, outreach services and by telephone through the Legal Aid Helpline.
Information is also provided through the Commission’s website, by dissemination of written materials about common legal issues to individuals and organisations, and by attendance at information hubs and other public events.
If the Commission cannot help a person because their problem is not a legal problem, or because another legal service is better placed to assist them, a referral of the person to an appropriate service is facilitated.
Legal Advice and Minor Legal Assistance
Legal advice is specific advice of a legal nature concerning a person’s individual circumstances. It includes analysis of the options available to a person to resolve a legal matter. Legal advice is provided free of charge in face-to-face interviews arranged through the Commission’s Legal Aid Helpdesk, the Legal Aid Clinic, the Youth Law Centre and at outreach services such as the Prisoners Legal Service. Legal advice services are usually limited to half an hour but may be extended for up to two hours at the discretion of the adviser.
Minor legal assistance is the provision of self-help assistance greater than information and legal advice but short of direct representation that is designed to enable people to progress resolution of identified legal problems. Minor legal assistance includes drafting a simple letter for a person to send to a third party, completing forms, and drafting simple applications or other court or tribunal documents.
Legal advice and minor legal assistance are provided free of charge in relation to a range of legal matters affecting the ordinary citizen, including:
- criminal and traffic charges;
- family separation, parenting and property disputes;
- domestic violence and personal protection;
- mental health;
- victims of crime assistance;
- contract and debt;
- employment; and
- administrative decisions.
Advocacy
Advocacy is an early intervention service that does not require a grant of legal assistance. The service is available to people who are unable to adequately advocate their own case and involves communication with a third party on behalf of the client and may extend to representation at a court or tribunal. Advocacy services include assisting people appearing before the ACT Administrative and Civil Tribunal in mental health proceedings.
Duty Lawyer
Duty lawyer services are provided free of charge at courts and tribunals to people who would otherwise be unrepresented in relation to an event or proceeding on that day. The Commission provides duty lawyer services in:
- criminal cases at the ACT Magistrates Court and the ACT Children’s Court;
- domestic violence and personal protection matters at the ACT Magistrates Court; and
- family law matters at the Canberra Registry of the Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court.
Duty lawyer services consist of advising a person in relation to the proceeding or event and in appropriate circumstances appearing on their behalf. These services can include assistance with bail applications, guilty pleas and representation of applicants for urgent interim protection and restraining orders.
Grants of Legal Assistance
Grants of legal assistance enable people who would not otherwise be able to afford legal services to obtain legal representation in legal proceedings, dispute resolution, or other legal matters of a substantial and ongoing nature. Grants of legal assistance are provided in criminal, family and civil law matters.
In determining applications for grants of legal assistance the Commission examines whether the application satisfies the eligibility requirements of the Legal Aid Act 1977 and guidelines set by the Commission under the Act.
Dispute Resolution
The Commission provides a lawyer-assisted model of alternative dispute resolution in family law and child protection matters with the objective of settling disputes at an early stage without the need for recourse to the courts.
Community Legal Education
Community Legal Education (CLE) is the provision of information and education to members of the community (especially vulnerable and disadvantaged people) on an individual or group basis concerning the law and legal processes and the place of these in the structure of society. The ‘community’ may be defined geographically, by issue or by need. Effective CLE sets out to ensure that people understand and apply the knowledge in ways that benefit their behaviours, decisions and life outcomes. CLE increases the ability of an individual or community to understand and critically assess the impact of the legal system on them and their ability to deal with and use the law and the legal system.
The Commission’s CLE programs include training the staff of organisations that assist vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the community in how to recognise when their clients have legal problems and where to refer them for help, as well as targeted information sessions on a range of specific legal issues.As well as sessions held on the Commission’s premises, CLE sessions are also provided at schools, community centres and community organisations.
Law Reform
The Commission has a statutory obligation to advise the Attorney-General of any proposals for new legislation or existing laws and procedures that may adversely impact on those groups in the community who make up the Commission’s client base. Access to justice can be enhanced by focusing on the impact of legislative change on disadvantaged members of the community and legal aid programs.
New Initiatives
Improving Access to Justice
The Government will provide additional legal assistance to the ACT community. This initiative will enhance the Commission’s ability to grant legal assistance to vulnerable people who cannot afford the cost of private legal representation.
Eastman Stay Application
The Government is providing funding to the Legal Aid Commission for a StayApplication associated with the proposed retrial of MrEastman.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services
The Commission is committed to increasing the accessibility of services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
The Commission’s Indigenous Services strategy also involves conducting cultural awareness training for staff, engaging with Indigenous communities and agencies, and providing practical support for members of the community in need of grants of legal assistance or other legal assistance services.
Challenges
The Commission faces a range of challenges in ensuring the delivery of services to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the community. The overall cost of providing services continues to increase while the demand for services continues to grow. The Commission is faced with having to also meet emerging needs in the civil law area, including family and domestic violence and those of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities. In this context the Commission intends to reallocate its resources to new priority client groups.
Risks
The Commission’s primary risk is meeting theemerging needs in the civil law area without reducing services in the core family and criminal areas. The two main drivers of the Commission’s litigation work are children in family law disputes and peopleat risk of incarceration. Inthis context the Commission’s capacity to respond will be limited by the necessity to meet the cost of legally assisted cases, and is compounded by further reductions in Commission revenue from the Statutory Interest Account.
Performance measures and targets
During 2015-16 the Commission will pursue a number of strategic objectives. These objectives and their corresponding indicators are as follows:
Strategic Objective 1
Provide services to promote the earlier resolution of legal problems
The Commission provides a range of legal services that promote the identification and early resolution of legal problems. Evidence shows that the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our community, such as victims of family violence, children, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and members of culturally and linguistically diverse communities would particularly benefit from early intervention services.
Investing in the provision of these types of services so that more people have an opportunity to receive assistance before litigation is commenced is a key indicator of improvement in access to justice for those persons most at disadvantage in the community.
Strategic Objective 2
Provide legal information and referral services
The Commission seeks to ensure that people are not prevented, by disadvantage, from obtaining the legal services they need to protect their rights and interests. Enhancing the capacity of people to assist themselves when faced with legal problems, improves the chances of resolution and appropriate referral to social support services.
Growth in the number of people receiving information and advice, and where appropriate referral for preventative and early intervention services, is a strong indicator that targeting this type of assistance is meeting the needs of the most disadvantaged members of the community.
Strategic Objective 3
Provide efficient and cost-effective legal aid services
The Commission has well developed systems to determine applications for grants of legal assistance and to reduce the administrative costs of providing legal assistance.
Increasing the number of people assisted by improving the efficiency and timeliness of service provision is an indicator that services are reaching those people most in need of legal aid services and that community understanding of the law and the legal system operating in the Territory is improving.
Key Performance Indicators for 2015-16 to 2018-19
The table below reports the key performance indicators for 2014-15onward for the new Output1.1: Legal Aid Services Provided to the Community.
201415Targets / 201415
Estimated
Outcome / 201516
Targets / 2016-17
Projected / 2017-18
Projected / 2018-19
Projected
Legal Aid Services Provided to the Community
Number of information and referral services provided / 60,000 / 72,000 / 72,000 / 72,000 / 72,000 / 72,000
Number of legal advice and minor legal assistance services provided in person / 4,700 / 4,700 / 4,700 / 4,700 / 4,700 / 4,700
Number of advocacy services provided / 650 / 780 / 650 / 650 / 650 / 650
Number of legal information and advice services provided by the Legal Aid Helpline / 9,000 / 14,000 / 14,000 / 14,000 / 14,000 / 14,000
Number of duty lawyer services provided / 2,580 / 2,600 / 2,600 / 2,600 / 2,600 / 2,600
Number of legally assisted cases / 1,960 / 2,150 / 2,038 / 1,962 / 1,780 / 1,730
Number of dispute resolution conferences held / 200 / 210 / 200 / 200 / 200 / 200
Number of people attending community legal education sessions / 2,000 / 1,800 / 2,000 / 2,000 / 2,000 / 2,000
Number of services provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people / 1,275 / 1,300 / 1,150 / 1,150 / 1,150 / 1,150
Assessment of performance against 2014-15objectives
The strategic objectives promote the early resolution of legal problems, the timely provision of legal information (and referral), and the delivery of efficient and cost-effective legal aid services. The performance and financial results suggest that the Commission has been successful in front-line service delivery. This has been achieved through a range of savings measures, the strategic reallocation of resources and enhancement of service delivery by Commission staff, and the regearing of external legal expenses. A restructure of the Commission’s work profile, and changes to staffing structures, have also facilitated improved service delivery.
The Commission continues to provide high levels of information and referral services. The figure of 72,000well exceeded the target and confirms that demand remains very high for these types of services.
The early provision of assistance is shown to be very effective in addressing need, and the Commission’s ‘open door’ policy has seen increasing numbers of people come to our office for assistance. This is reflected in the estimated actual number of legal advice and minor legal assistance services provided (at 4,700).
The advocacy results this year (780) show the importance of this type of work in effectively meeting the needs of a client group that do not require representation in court.
The provision of Helpline services continue to grow exponentially. The target of 9,000 has been dramatically exceeded (14,000), and accordingly the forward year projectionshave been revised. The redirection of additional resources during this year to this service was aimed at ensuring timely response to calls and to mitigate against backlogs of calls.
At 2,600, the provision of duty lawyer services continues to be a key role for the Commission. Importantly the figures show an increase in numbers. Duty lawyer services are likely to remain a key activity.
Grants of legal assistance have, until this year, been on a steady decline. The higher numbers for this year at 2,150 as against the target of 1,960 evidencesefficiencies in service delivery strategies. The fresh targets for out years reflects the Territory Governments’ additional investment over the next two years, but takes into account the continuing trend in the increase in external legal expenses (particularly expensive criminal cases)and a reduction in receipts from the Statutory Interest Account.
At 210, dispute resolution conference numbers continue to improve – the figures have increased notwithstanding the funding cut by the Commonwealth which was brought in at the start of the financial year. Investment in early resolution has been shown to provide immediate benefits to the parties in dispute and long-term financial benefits where litigation is avoided.
The Commission has redirected significant resources into Community Legal Education (CLE). The figure of 1,800 reflect this effort, although it is marginally under target the result exceeds the number of people assisted in the previous year. The upward trend is indicative of future work in this area. CLE forms the fundamental strategy of our outreach program.
The growth in the number of services provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people indicates that the Commission is adopting strategies that result in more assistance being provided to this significant client group. The results for this year (1,300) indicate the success in attracting people from this group; there has been a 142 per cent increase in these services over the past 5 years.
Employment profile
The Board of the Commission comprises a President, the Chief Executive Officer (ex-officio)and six other part-time Commissioners who bring to the Commission a wide range of expertise and experience in management, legal, community services and finances.
Staffing details for the year ended 30 June 2014, projected staffing at the end of the current financial year, and the budget for the year ending 30 June 2016 are as follows:
201314Actual Outcome / 201415
Budget / 201415
Estimated
Outcome / 201516
Budget
Staffing (FTE) / 591 / 57 / 671 / 671
Notes
1The movement inFull Time Equivalent staff (FTEs) is a result of backfilling a number of staff on long term paidleave, additional resources required for the Eastman Inquiry andLitigation, and staff profile changes arising from the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement.